THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The department of public education is considering to declare Independence Day and Gandhi Jayanti as working days. Reports said that instead of giving holidays on these important days in history, it is being planned to declare as working days. This was reported by a Malayalam daily. The report also said that this is to ensure fixed working days.

The panel studying the issue of ensuring 220 working days in an academic year is considering this. The Khader Committee had earlier recommended that the day should not be a holiday but should be an occasion to impart knowledge to children. The aim is to make children participate in various activities instead of studying in classrooms on these days.

200 working days with 800 study hours are required for classes one to five and 220 working days with 1000 study hours for classes six to eight. The Right to Education Act is applicable only up to eight. 200 days can be found in the LP. However, it is very difficult to ensure 220 working days in UP and high schools. Presently only 195 working days are available on average. We are trying to find a way for this of this.

Although there was a proposal to make Saturday a working day, most of the teachers' organizations opposed it. It has been agreed that Saturday can be made a study day instead of six consecutive working days. This will provide seven more study days from the next academic year. Increasing the school hours by half an hour is also under active consideration. By doing this, two more days will be available in a month. In addition, the authorities estimate that more study days can be arranged by arranging sports festivals on Saturdays. However, the authorities are also concerned that unexpected holidays like rain will spoil the study days.